October 30, 2021 -- Stephanie Zavala, Bryanna Coté Headline Wild Day at the PWBA Tour Championship
Stephanie Zavala began the day over 330 pins out of the show and ended the day on the show. She will bowl for a major title on Sunday, but she'll have to get through top-seed Bryanna Coté.
Insert whatever adjective you’d prefer: special, historic, unbelievable, impossible, etc. Each and every one would describe what Stephanie Zavala accomplished today at the PWBA Tour Championship.
The 25-year-old began the day in 20th place, existing out of sight and out of mind to the majority of the field — 338 pins out of the show.
She ended the day in 4th place after bowling out of her mind for the final eight games. She’ll bowl for a major title tomorrow at 2 p.m. EST on CBS Sports Network.
Zavala stormed out of the gates with 286-266-269 for an 821 series, leapfrogging all the way up to 9th place. She finished with games of 252-231-227-265-217 to complete the comeback without corollary.
The 40’ pattern flummoxed Zavala on the fresh. She shot 96 in the first game of match play on Friday — that’s not a typo. The fresh kicked her ass, knocked her into last place and, frankly, embarrassed her.
But it did not defeat her. She stood up, dusted herself off, and punched right back with eight straight strikes to start Game 2.
Her 199-pin, single-game turnaround proved to be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of her resilience.
Zavala rose from the ashes, averaging over 229 for the final 23 games of match play and over 251 in the final block alone. The three-time titleist lives to fight another day with her eyes on a fourth.
As if her storybook rookie season needed another chapter.
Bryanna Coté clinched the top seed for tomorrow’s stepladder. The narrative of Zavala’s climb overshadowed Coté’s impressive day, as she averaged over 243 on the day herself.
Shannon Pluhowsky, Diana Zavjalova, Zavala and Shannon O’Keefe fill out the rest of the field. Daria Pajak, Missy Parkin and Shannon Sellens finished on the outside looking in.
The PWBA Player of the Year award has still yet to be determined.
With a win or an O’Keefe loss against Zavala, Coté will lock up the PWBA Player of the Year award. However, if O’Keefe wins her first match, she will win POY if Coté loses the title match.
As an objective viewer, the ideal scenario for entertainment purposes involves O’Keefe climbing the ladder and setting up a literal winner-take-all title match with Coté.